Does anyone else think this Fugue is really difficult?

I mean underrated in terms of difficulty both technically and musically.



I'd love to hear some thoughts about it.

I’m not sure how you are determining underrated for difficulty
Check out pianosyllabus.com for ratings by the exam boards; they vary but are not low

I have not played much Bach: several of the Two- and Three-part Inventions, two of the French Suites, and four of the Preludes and Fugues from Bk I of the WTC.

The Prelude and Fugue in G minor were the first set from this work that I played back in my teen-age years. I used it for my Level 10 RCM examination, and I won a local competition division with it. I certainly didn't find it terribly difficult. As with many Bach works in the WTC in both volumes, one can practically choose the tempo (since there are (with a couple of exceptions) no tempo indications in the WTC) and there are multiple ways of articulating the fugue. In the Alfred Masterwork Edition (ed. by Willard Palmer) there are illustrations of ten different ways various well-known Bach performers articulate the fugue subject.

In the RCM syllabus, the Prelude and Fugue in C minor (Bk I), is level 9; 11 Preludes and Fugues from Bk I are level 10, and the remainder are diploma level. The G minor is in level 10, making it among the easier, but not the easiest pair.

Maybe your difficulty lies in both areas: tempo and articulation of the fugue. How much experience do you have with Bach polyphonic works? How many of the Two- and Three-part Inventions have you played, for example?

What, in your estimation, makes this fugue underrated in terms of difficulty?

Regards,

Thanks.


What I've played from Bach...

WTC 1 Prelude #1 in C major
WTC 1 Prelude #2 in C minor
WTC 1 Prelude #5 in D major (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsVFQ_suk7k)
WTC 1 Prelude #6 in D minor
WTC 1 Prelude #15 in G major
WTC 1 Prelude #16 in G minor
WTC 1 Prelude #21 in Bb major

WTC 1 Fugue #2 in C minor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EJsSUNqGfw)
WTC 1 Fugue #5 in D major

Invention #13 in A minor BWV 784
Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565

As you can see, I only have experience with three Fugues. The most difficult Bach piece I've played thus far was the WTC 1 Prelude #5. But I find this Fugue #16 more difficult.


I find this very interesting, because it groups them together. I know - they definitely belong together - but sometimes the difficulty between a Prelude and its Fugue are extreme. A perfect example of that would be #5 in D major. The Fugue is IMO one of the easiest in the book, and the Prelude one of the most difficult ones.


It's not that the Fugue is terribly difficult, I've only worked on it for a couple of days, but it takes time to feel smoothly under my fingers. More time than I expected. I needed significantly more time than usual deciphering the sheet music to figure out which hand plays what (like bar #7), it was funny at times. And finding the right fingering is always troublesome for me when it comes to Bach. I even had fingering problems with the Prelude (#16).

When I say underrated regarding the Fugue, I guess it's one of those pieces - at least to me - which sounds much easier than it actually is. At this point I can play it fairly well until bar #14. The rest I didn't work on that intensely yet. I can see that bars #14 - #18 will cause me the most trouble in the entire piece.

I would say the fugue is definitely more difficult than the prelude and it is more difficult than the c minor fugue. Within the book 1, it would range sort of in the middle of difficulty. Not as difficult as some like the A minor but more so than the easiest ones like the E minor. Then as you know everyone is more or less sensitive to certain difficulties, so it is quite relative.

Yeah, that makes sense.